Australian national carrier Qantas Airways has pledged to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, exceeding the commitments made by the aviation industry.

From next year, the group’s aviation business comprising Qantas Airlines, Jetstar, QantasLink and Qantas Freight will offset the carbon emissions from domestic and international flights.

The operator is also planning to develop long-term solutions that will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation industry in the next 30 years.

The solutions will be developed by collaborating with industry, research institutions and governments.

Qantas CEO Alan said: “We recognise that airlines have a responsibility to cut emissions and combat climate change. We’ve already made some good progress, especially by investing in newer aircraft that have a much smaller carbon footprint.

“We’re effectively doubling our carbon offsetting programme from today and we’re capping our net emissions across Qantas and Jetstar from 2020 so that all new flying will be carbon neutral.

“Qantas offsets all of its own travel needs and so do many of our customers. By matching their efforts, we’re hoping it will encourage even more people to offset and the program will keep growing.”

During the next ten years, the national carrier will also invest A$50m ($34.2m) for the development of sustainable aviation fuel in the country.

In addition, Qantas will replace its Boeing 747 fleet with B787 Dreamliners, which is considered to have better fuel efficiency, later next year.

Accounting for 2% of global CO2 emissions, the aviation industry was the first to commit to halving emissions by 2050 compared with 2005 levels.